Matthew Slater isn’t ready to call it quits just yet.
The 34-year-old special teamer told reporters after Wednesday’s Pro Bowl practice that he doesn’t plan on retiring. He also reiterated the fact that he wants to remain with the New England Patriots — who he’s spent his 12 NFL seasons with.
Slater is set to become an unrestricted free agent on March 18. He spoke to The Athletic’s Jeff Howe and expressed his desire to remain a Patriot.
“I definitely feel like my family and I thought about it a lot,” Slater said. “I still love to play and want to continue to play. I guess as of now, I want to keep playing. We just have to see how things go from here. There are a lot of things up in the air that I don’t know, but I’m going to approach it as though I’m preparing to play next year. We’ll kind of go from there. That’s where we’re at.”
I think I’ve expressed several times my desire to play the entirety of my career (in New England). When you play 12 years in one location, it’s hard for you to imagine playing anywhere else. I’ve certainly expressed that publicly. I’ve expressed that privately. But again, ultimately, sometimes that decision isn’t always in your hands. We’ll see how things go moving forward.”
He regurgitated the same thing while speaking with ESPN’s Michael DiRocco.
Patriots special teams captain Matthew Slater is at the Pro Bowl, where @ESPNdirocco was with him as Slater discussed how he isn’t ready to retire. Slater also relayed that he expressed to the Patriots that he would like to return. Slater’s comments: pic.twitter.com/epKXkuraFr
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) January 22, 2020
Slater has eight Pro Bowls under his belt along with two First-Team All-Pro selections. He’s been an integral part of New England’s culture and the team would miss an enormous locker room presence if he were to leave.
[vertical-gallery id=77566]